The self-service ice industry is one of the fastest growing business opportunities available today. Typically, large vending machines are used that manufacture, store, bag, and dispense purified ice in bags. The downside of these machines is cost and location, which requires water for the manufacturing component of such machines.
Other pre-packaged vending machines are known in the art, but are limited due to the size and weight of prepackaged ice, which is often sold in bags ranging in weight from 5 to 20 lbs. Current vending machines know in the art are not capable of dispensing multiple sized pre-packed ice bags, or are not capable of being adapted to vending a product the size and weight of a desired bag of ice by the average consumer.
Stores typically have one or more large coolers located either within or outside of a store for selling one or more sizes of prepackage ice bags. These coolers are inefficient for both sellers and buyers. An externally located cooler requires a lock and employee to manual dispense purchased product, or the often abused “honor system” of a buyer after the purchase has been made in the store. Interior coolers are just as inefficient, as they are typically not located near a register, again requiring an employee or the honor system to be used after payment, or a consumer to stack or carry one or more bags in a cart to check out, as the product melts potentially making a mess in the store, and lost value to the buyer.
The object of the present invention is to improve and simplify the construction and operation of such machines.
Another object of the invention is to provide an ice vending machine that easily and quickly dispense desired product, is easy to replenish, has a low manufacturing cost, and high profitability offering a better seller and buyer experience for the purchase of the product.